Most accurate description of most of my friends from Tipp City to Marion to toledo to Athens. Hundreds of my friends have NO connection to State whether work, school, kids or anything else. Never been on campus or to a game but they worship at the Altar. "Up the Ass" is the most accurate description I have ever seen. Observed this since grade school but I still do not understand it. When they saw a pic of the grandson with Coach Holtmann on my FB page folks who had never commented made a big deal of it and got all excited despite lil fella's Maine shirt. Weird.
Hegemony and success are powerful drugs. Americans like "winners" and in a state with only one P5 school for most of our lifetimes, it's really not a big surprise that they suck all the air out of the room.
This is even more pronounced in the last 20 or so years because title contention is the only thing that's worthy of respect to many people. You see it in the NBA, with "losers" like Damian Lillard, load management and anything short of a title being a failed season. It's bizarre to me but it's reality for most.